Why would a professional chef admit — or even “joke” — about intentionally slipping animal products into a vegan meal? There’s no way that situation ends well, yet it happened anyway.

Laura Goodman is co-owner of Carlini, an Italian restaurant in Shifnal, Shropshire, United Kingdom. She served as chef there as well. Recently, a group asked her to prepare a special vegan menu for them. She did so, spending a lot of time on it. When the group showed up at Carlini, they chose instead to order off the regular menu.

Angry and frustrated by the wasted effort, Goodman reportedly posted the following message late that same evening in a closed Facebook group:

Actually, I should have said ‘they’re’ not a vegan… not ‘she.’ Started with asking me to telephone them, over Christmas, to discuss the dietary requirements of their guests within a set time frame, and ended with me wondering why I’m explaining this simplistic post to a pious c***.

Shocked, word spread past the closed Facebook group and throughout social media. People began peppering Carlini’s TripAdvisor, Google Reviews and Facebook pages with angry messages and one-star reviews.

Within a very short period of time, Goodman apologized and resigned from her position as chef. It was apparently the only move that could save the restaurant from a permanent downward spiral to ruin.

Michael Gale, co-owner of Carlini and Goodman’s fiance, explained to The Express and Star:

[Goodman] had spent a lot of time designing a special vegan menu for a party, who then decided to choose something from the existing menu – one meal of which was a cheese-based pizza, which isn’t vegan friendly. This is what she meant by the Facebook comment. In no way does this excuse the comment and we totally understand the anger it has subsequently caused.

However, we want to assure everyone that the meals were all prepared to our usual high standards and in accordance with the Food Standards Agency. No meat was used in any of the dishes.

Gale told The Telegraph that Goodman “is absolutely mortified by the comments she made which were posted in the early hours of the morning after a very long shift and too much to drink.”

So a group of customers did something frustrating and rude. Here’s an idea — charge them for the meal you created for them. There’s no reason to “spike” someone’s food with something they refuse to eat.

Gale also indicated that Goodman’s posts referred to the cheese pizza someone at the table ordered and ate. Apparently that’s the person Goodman said went to bed “still believing she’s a vegan.”

Well, it seems to me that most vegans know that dairy cheese isn’t vegan, so either Goodman and Gale are tap dancing desperately. Or if they’re telling the truth, the person who ate the pizza was actually a vegetarian having dinner with vegans.

Why is it funny and satisfying to secretly make a vegan eat meat, eggs or dairy? Would Goodman put nuts into the food of someone who’s allergic to them? Would she feed something non-kosher to a kosher Jew?

Messing with someone’s meal because a special needs customer is rude, aggravating, pushy or otherwise exasperating is unprofessional and immature. And claiming that you did so – even if you didn’t — means customers can never trust you again.

Goodman and Gale may feel this hubbub is an overreaction to a misguided comment or two. They probably think that this is another example of vegans going overboard for their cause. Some of what happened is indeed an overreaction. The death threats Goodman received were, of course, ridiculous and entirely inappropriate.

Overall, though, the anger this situation triggered is an understandable response. Whether Goodman tinkered with the guests’ food or not, she eroded the trust that anyone had in her professional abilities.

The lesson here isn’t simply a warning not to mess with vegans. The takeaway here is simpler. When you deal with the public — especially with their food — you don’t “spike” it and you don’t joke about “spiking” it, because everyone will call you out for that offense.